Women's World Cup: USA scrape into last 16 behind group winners Netherlands

The USA women's national team struggled to a startling 0-0 tie with Portugal in Auckland, New Zealand, on Tuesday to advance to the knockout round of the Women's World Cup.

However, they finished second in Group E to Netherlands, who romped to a 7-0 win over Vietnam. Victory in Dunedin took the Dutch to seven points, two ahead of the USA.

The US must wait until Wednesday to find out their last-16 opponents. They face the winners of Group G, most likely Sweden, ranked third in the world. The Netherlands will face the Group G runner-up, possibly Italy on Saturday.

Ines Pereira made six saves for Portugal, including a stop on an Alex Morgan shot in the 84th minute. Portugal had no shots on goal, but Ana Capeta hit the right post in the first minute of second-half stoppage time.

The USA had only failed to win their group in nine previous World Cups, back in 2011.

They went into Tuesday's fixture level on points with the Netherlands but the Americans held the goal-differential tiebreaker. Now, they will rue a lackluster 3-0 win over Vietnam in their opening match followed by a 1-1 tie with Netherlands.

There were two changes for the USA lineup from the first two matches. Rose Lavelle started in the midfield for Savannah DeMelo, while Lynn Williams got the nod up top over Trinity Rodman.

Williams had all four USA shots on goal in the first half, including a strike from the top of the box just before the break.

Lavelle's second yellow card of the tournament in the 39th minute means she will miss the next match.

Five first-half goals allowed the Netherlands to cruise past Vietnam at Dunedin, New Zealand, and wrap up the top spot in Group E. Esmee Brugts and Jill Roord scored twice apiece in the blowout.

Lieke Martens opened the